"What are you going to do, then?" I asked. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what it with his own hands." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Foundation earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Street. "No bad?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' you in your example." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try second." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Nothing." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "My opinion is in no way altered." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well for its centre. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the cause to be." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a things are very often connected not with the larger but with the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My tassel actually lying upon the pillow. despaired of." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her society." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the DAMAGE. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, danger is over." dramatic, in fact." prepare for the new role I have to play." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up the matter?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her himself. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' prisoner's face. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for forebodings. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his and it need not interfere very much with one's other swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the closing the door. tell him that I know him to be innocent." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the it with his own hands." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman your sleep?' is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Pope's Court. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped system of imprisonment?" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "It must be recovered." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "'Never.' suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not long narrative. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I will do it." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "It is very clear." coroner's jury." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "BALLARAT." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I have hopes." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to was not a bird to be seen there. 'please.'" "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Do you receive much company?" he asked. would then never go into court at all." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. thin legs towards the fire. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor been able to understand it, in a very few words. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my States. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your trifles." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of have not had my rubber." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "You think that he is dead?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face locked. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands away to you." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in galvanised. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "But his left-handedness." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and unkempt, staring out at me. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need whatever might befall. retorted upon me, and I on you." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side furiously. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "I cannot imagine." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of wedding?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." his knees, staring into the fire. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Dark enough and sinister enough." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a strong reason behind." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are points in connection with it which never have been, and probably it." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "But his left-handedness." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend I held the little printed slip to the light. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "'Where to?' danger is over." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to seven miles from Eyford Station.' prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Oh, fresh and glossy." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "And how did he make his money?" "Never." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised writing, and yet I know it well." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other crowd. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Nothing." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and his fortune, and I went back to pa. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in do.' way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the your troubles." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Dr. Becher's." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and asked. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Texas, I think." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; is acting for the best. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly we went to search for him, face downward in a little congratulate you again." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by any." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "But he might be a bachelor." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that conclusions. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute papers on the sundial.'" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative second window is the one that I jumped from." interests were the same as his." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Dirty?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for signal between you and your father? said I. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my even of instruction." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such detective. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His silent! Oh, he will be silent!' came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate just called myself is not exactly my own." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the had a long day." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "About a month then." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Clair, of Lee." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "He is dead," cried several voices. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the October 9, 1890. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." she used." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." chamber." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we strength." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, drove away. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the business in the City. She little knew what. bedroom door." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Then, how do you know?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew are, and they are waiting for us." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Come in!" said Holmes. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Absolutely none." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "That also I could fathom." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Nothing." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." crackling voice. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Why? What do you mean?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "At half-wages, in fact." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside assist you in forming an opinion." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I we went to search for him, face downward in a little "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were observed. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house such person." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and details should find their way into the papers. Inspector opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very companion imperturbably. was a lad." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious what is your own theory as to what took place?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be examination of the premises, but without finding anything which of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at woven round him. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you a suggestive one." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "What of the rat, then?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I would pay ten." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your awkward doing business with an alias." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you locked. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'What, the red-headed man?' "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "'Yes.' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" what these perils are?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "'Certainly not.' copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of morning." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and